ASPIRING professional golfer Andrew Cartledge was thrilled enough with the way he played in the first two days of the PGA Nationals Futures Championship - to make the cut was nothing short of a bonus.
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The soon-to-be Ballarat Golf City professional finished 11-over after two rounds at Ballarat Golf Course, sneaking into the top 50 out of the field of 106-strong field by just one shot.
Having not played for six weeks before the event after damaging a nerve in his neck, Cartledge battled the strong winds stoically to shoot a round of 77 on Wednesday, following Tuesday's 78.
His results were typical of an extremely tough Ballarat course in which lightning-fast greens and wind speeds of up to 40km/h wreaked havoc.
After two rounds, just three players finished under par.
"I felt like I played better today but you don't get much value when it's really windy and the greens are really hard - you hit a lot of good shots and they just don't tend to finish close," Cartledge said.
"A lot of the time you are just playing for pars instead of shooting for birdies.
"It doesn't matter what the scores look like, every player here is pretty accomplished but the course has torn them apart a bit, it was brutal."
Remarkably, Cartledge is not actually aligned to a golf club in Ballarat; he is based out of the driving range on Learmonth Street.
And that was where he went to work after yesterday's round as he kept a close eye on the afternoon field leaderboard to see if he made the cut.
And in the end, he scraped in by just one shot.
"I had no expectations to make the cut because I haven't played for six weeks and I haven't been feeling well so I'm ecstatic with that result," he said.
"I was five over through 10 holes but I came home strong and played the last eight holes to par, which was good."
This tournament is Cartledge's last before he becomes a qualified professional, entering the tournament under an injury cloud with a neck injury.
Meanwhile, fellow Ballarat competitor, Simon Irving, missed the cut with a disappointing round of 87 to finish 27-over.
LEADERBOARD
142 Sean Roach, NSW
143 Alexander Pitty, NSW; Taylor Cooper, NSW
144 Gareth Davies, ENG
145 Adam Demidjuk, NSW; Brad Moules, SA
147 Theo Maroulakos, VIC
148 Jordan Mullaney, NSW
149 Paul Griffiths, QLD; Christopher Akers, NSW; Elissa-Jayne Orr, NSW; James Gordon, VIC
